The Stockton City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. today at City Hall, 425 N. El Dorado St. It is aired live at stocktongov.com or Channel 97.

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The Stockton City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. today at City Hall, 425 N. El Dorado St. It is aired live at stocktongov.com or Channel 97.

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STOCKTON - Hoping to score some quick cash, the city plans to put on the market dozens of old hotels, historic buildings, oddball-sized lots and even some lakeside pasture land.

Each piece of property - no matter its shape or sentimental value - amounts to excess cargo that Stockton needs to jettison amid its financial storm. Creditors in the city's bankruptcy have pressed the issue.

The city expects to raise anywhere from $4 million to $7 million, money that will be used to pay down Stockton's claims in the ongoing Chapter 9 case and other costs to the general fund.

The City Council tonight will consider handing off the list of some 44 parcels to CBRE, a commercial brokerage firm.

The bulk of the parcels - 24 lots totaling more than 1,800 acres - lie around New Hogan Lake, a source of city drinking water 30 miles east of Stockton in the rolling hills of Calaveras County. It's mostly grazing land, but some parcels could be used for homes, the city says.

Other property going up for sale - the shuttered Fair Oaks Library, two temporary firehouses and a former police station - are scattered around Stockton. The list includes a few crumbling downtown hotels, such as El Tecolote Hotel and the Hotel Terry.

More treasured pieces of property include a 1912 building that's home to the Philomathean Club and the Stockton Rod and Gun Club, built in 1941. Members of each social club with long histories have their own questions about what could happen to their city-owned property.

Mary Jo Gohlke, treasurer of the Philomathean Club, said they received a letter from the city late last week informing them of the potential sale, which isn't a large worry because they have a contract protecting them.

"We were rather surprised they are treating this as an 'excess office building,' " Gohlke said. "It's on the state and national registry of historical places."

The Philomathean Club meets several times a month in the century-old building at Hunter and Acacia streets. The women's enrichment club invites in guest speakers and hosts bridge tournaments.

The city bought the building from the cash-strapped club in 2000 for $25,000. Terms of the club's agreement with the city say that in case of a future sale, the new owner has to let the club continue using it as long as it has at least 10 members.

They don't have the 700 as in the 1970s, Gohlke said, but today they're around 60 members and growing.

"Several of them are quite young," she said. "We're going to have our own website and Facebook page."

Also, if the city sells it, the club will net one-third of the profit, according to the agreement. That and the club's historical significance to Stockton are two things Gohlke said she wishes to remind the city of at tonight's council meeting.

Offers on any of the properties that come in lower than 15 percent of the estimated value will be rejected or brought to the City Council for approval, as well as sales of more than $500,000.

The city's defunct Redevelopment Agency has another list of 25 or more pieces of property that it began trying to sell or put on the city's books outright. That different list consists of the Bob Hope Fox Theatre and the Children's Museum.

The Rod and Gun Club sits on less than 1 acre on the north bank of the Stockton Deep Water Channel looking across to the Port of Stockton. The clubhouse has a bar and a small dock, which are open to members.

The 5,900-square-foot building isn't fancy, but the club's some 500 members are fiercely protective. They allow the Hula and Tahitian Dance group to practice there and let the Sea Scouts use their dock for free, said Dennis Morgan, the club's vice president.

"We're not a very rich club, but we do what we can," Morgan said. "If they do sell, we hope they'll consider letting us purchase it."